A big story in Carroll County in 2024 outlining efforts by billion-dollar company, Scout Clean Energy, to proceed with building a $400-million, 180-megawatt Nimbus wind farm on mountain ridges south of Green Forest. The project has been supported by County Judge David Writer, who has said it is a “done deal.”
The Carroll County Quorum Court has voted against a moratorium or any other restrictions on Nimbus.
Rural Carroll County doesn’t have building or zoning codes. Arkansas is one of a handful of states that doesn’t have laws regarding wind farms and other types of alternative energy.
The proposal changed over the year with Scout downsizing the number of turbines from 46 to 30, which it said was possible by building taller turbines—nearly 700-feet-tall, to reach stronger and more consistent winds. That left some landowners who had signed leases with Scout without the revenue-generating turbines they had expected.
Opponents have argued that there is a lack of government oversight for the project that they fear could disrupt springs and wells with blasting for large turbine foundations, create fire hazards from lightning strikes, and cause long delays and traffic hazards on the narrow, steep dirt roads used to bring in huge tower and blade components. Residents are also concerned about excessive noise from the towers, blinking lights, potential human and animal health problems, and collisions killing eagles and bats.
President-elect Donald Trump is a climate change denier who has said he wants no wind farms constructed during his second term and is opposed to tax credits that have made wind and other alternative energy projects competitive with fossil fuels. Scout Clean Energy’s Anna Buongiorno, the company’s associate director of government affairs, told Inside Climate News that Scout is already facing project delays due to the post-election policy uncertainty. Buongiorno was quoted as saying that Scout will focus on investing in the projects that make the most financial sense with or without tax incentives.
Scout Clean Energy sent an email to the ES Independent stating it has found a customer for the electricity produced by Nimbus. The company wrote that while it cannot provide further information at this time, it expects more details to come out in the following months.
Opponents have expressed concern that trucks bringing in the turbines’ equipment are going to exceedthe weight limits for state highways and county roads. Mark Wengierski, Scout’s vice president of development, wrote that trucks hauling weights exceeding 80,000 pounds need to acquire a heavy haul permit from the Arkansas Department of Transportation (DOT).
“When delivering equipment in excess of this weight, the Nimbus Project will be acquiring a heavy haul permit from the Arkansas DOT and follow all the requirements of those permits obtained from the Arkansas DOT,” Wengierski wrote. “We will be following all state and local guidelines to ensure the safety of both the vehicle and other road users, depending on each situation.”
Opponents have expressed concern about the trees that will be removed on the 9,500 acres leased for the project. Wengierski said the project is in the process of removing trees in certain areas but will be clearing fewer than five percent of the project area. He said they are not anticipating any project delays, and expect that Nimbus will qualify for federal tax credits.
One victory for the opponents in 2024 was when Caroline Rogers, founder of Stop Wind Farms AR, received 60 percent of the vote to defeat incumbent John Howerton—who opposed any restrictions on Nimbus–for a seat on the Quorum Court. Rogers said most of her campaigning was done around events to educate people about Nimbus.
“In February 2023 when I started working on this, it was a big learning curve,” Rogers said. “I just knew in my soul that it didn’t make any sense to have wind turbines up here. The more you research it, the more ridiculous it seems to put them up here in a forested area. Some companies won’t even build in forested areas because of the negative impact on bats.”
Rogers is alarmed at the deforestation underway.
“All the work currently being done is on private property and every landowner has the right to do this,” Rogers said. “They are bringing in these big machines that pull the trees out of the ground by the roots. Until you see it, you don’t realize the importance of root systems for erosion control, particularly in very steep areas. The holes create standing water.
“I called the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality to see if they will be inspecting to make sure Scout is properly following its best management practices. ADEQ said they will just assume Scout is doing the right thing. These are ridgetops, cliffs and bluffs. The water contaminated by sediment is going to flow downhill until it goes into someone’s stream or pond. It is the lack of checks and balances of this whole wind project that bothers me.”
Scout held public open houses twice in 2023 and twice in 2024. Rogers wasn’t satisfied with many of the answers calling them a “word salad” or a “dodge game” with words.
“They say it will produce 180 megawatts of power,” Rogers said. “What they don’t tell you is the capacity factor. It will never be 180 megawatts 100 percent of the time. Turbines produce only 22 to 35 percent of the time even in windy areas.”
Rogers was coming home from work in late December when she got caught behind one of the tractor trailer deliveries going one mph up Highway 103 South to County Road 905. She said the driver had to make a wide turn and was in the oncoming traffic lane on 103 for 15 seconds near a blind hill.
“The major concern is they are making these wide turns without any escort or precautions,” Rogers said. “It shows poor planning on Scout’s plan. What are they going to do when the 200-feet-long blades come through?”